Providing a hand up, not a hand out
Expanding into the future
Up until 2016 S.H.A.R.E. received funding from the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA (now called Global Affairs Canada) – Canada’s lead agency for international assistance. After 2016 S.H.A.R.E. has raised funds for projects through individual donations from very generous individuals as well as grants from businesses, unions, associations and Foundations.
HAND UP NOT A HAND OUT
S.H.A.R.E. has been supporting communities in need for over 45 years. Founded upon the core principal that it provides a hand up not a hand out, which has generated long term sustainability in the support that it provides to communities in need.
LOCAL PARTNERS
Working with partners situated locally helps eliminate paid staff, allowing donation dollars to go further. Local representation helps S.H.A.R.E. understand the true needs of a community, allowing us to ask, listen and provide with no preconceived ideas.
COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS DELIVER
The work of S.H.A.R.E. is almost exclusively delivered by passionate and committed volunteers, many with decades of commitment to the organization, and all with an empowering story why they become involved. Check out our volunteer profile stories.
Board of Directors
Paul McLellan
Past President - Director
Stephen Hood
President
In 2000, my wife and I went on a monitoring trip to Belize with a group of volunteers and were impressed with the S.H.A.R.E. philosophy.
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Caitlin Armstrong
Director
I started on the project committee and love that we fund projects that provide clean water.
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Tiegan Armstrong
Director
Sarah Sawatsky
Director
I was always drawn to S.H.A.R.E. because of our ‘hand up' and not a 'hand-out’ principle.
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Stephen Craig
Director
Thom Grace
Vice President - Director
Responding to opportunities to provide services to others has led me to volunteer since my 20’s.
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Gary Shaw
Director
Rev. Dr. James R. Clubine
Board Member
Jim joins S.H.A.R.E. as a director in October 2022. Jim grew up on a farm in Stouffville Ontario.
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Key Personnel
Casey Willemse
Project manager
John Moore
Project manager
Carl Fletcher
Project manager
As a 40+ year donor I’ve supported S.H.A.R.E.'s practical and effective projects that help people help themselves.
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Jean Howden
Secretary
Gord Armstrong
Treasurer
During a monitoring trip to Brazil, I saw first-hand a project which had been funded 13 years earlier that was still benefitting from the pass-on-principle.
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Joe Gray
Donor Relations Officer
I was involved in the very first project that sent 38 Holstein purebred heifers and 3 bulls to Mossoro, Brazil.
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Ben Tasson
CFO
Mark Cullen (Honorary Patron)
Honarary Patron
Judy Dunstan
Project Database Manager
Samantha Fancher
Communications Officer and Blog Writer
Trudy Blackburn
Donor Relations Team Member
Peter Armstrong
Donor and Sponsorship Relations
Amina Asfour
Grants Officer
Amina joins the team as a grants Officer, responsible for finding funding to support the work S.H.A.R.E. does.
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Ada Semenova
Communications Assistant
Asmita Chattopadhyay
Communications Social Media Specialist
Joel Porter
Executive Director
Annabelle Wenjia Xu
Communications Assistant
From Humble Rural Beginnings
The Mossoro dairy project was a clear success in its ability to help the poor community of Mossoro. For 30 years, some of the milk from the project has been directed to Sister Ellen, a Franciscan nun to assist her in feeding the hundreds of street children in her care. As the cattle herd grew all the bull calves that were born were not needed, therefore they were sold and the proceeds were used to establish a micro credit fund that provided low interest loans to poorer local farmers, who could not get credit at the banks. These cattle were highly desirable and many of the rich farmers in Brazil were eager to purchase any surplus animals.
Other early projects focused on cattle, a successful water buffalo project in the Amazon, sheep, chicks, bees, irrigation, wells, tools, rabbits, crop inputs, goats, pigs, agriculture training, youth skills training and education.
